Memoirs Of A Wizard
by DuoKnights
Summary: When you're 500 years old you tend to forget things, even old friends. Cooped up in his home most days, Zendric rediscovers a journal that was left in his care. Memories of his younger days are returned to him as he recounts the events in his life that brought him to where he is now: old and alone. Zendric starts to wonder if he made the right choice all those years ago.


**This is my take on the series. I've added a few things. I hope you like it!**

A few miles west from the ruins was a town known as Curston. In it resided many folks of different sizes, races, and genders. Three of which were human, and they held the title as the Order of Knights of the Silver Dragon. To show proof of who they were, they carried with them a silver dragon pin. But there was a fourth member to add to their ranks, someone much older, wiser, and he was a wizard with five-hundred years of experience. His name is Zendric.  
He lived in Wizards Quarter where he spent most of his days in a tower-like home. There he taught young boys and girls the art of magic. And his most promising student above all others was Kellach, a Knight of the Silver Dragon.  
The young apprentice wizard was reading from a spellbook older than Zendric himself. Kellach's voice was but a soft buzz to the old Wizard's ears as he sat there in his big chair and stared off into space.  
Suddenly, Zendric sat up straight and cut Kellach off in mid-sentence. "Pack up your things, boy. This lesson is over for the day."  
"Why, Zendric?" Kellach asked. "It hasn't even been an hour."  
Zendric didn't want to explain himself to the boy and waved a dismissive hand to him. "We will resume tomorrow at the same time as today. Now go."  
Kellach opened his mouth to protest further, but when the wizard gave the young boy a side glance, he thought otherwise and shut his mouth. He was quick to gather his things and left Zendric's home. He barely even heard the boy say goodbye on his way out.  
Zendric was left to his own accord and would not be disturbed for the remainder of the day seeing as he had no more students. He poured himself a glass of wine and walked up to the winding staircase of his towering home. There he set his glass down and stoked the fire. The rattling of the windows was a sign of the colder season fast approaching.  
As he rested his hands against the stone of the fireplace, he sighed and gazed into the dancing flames. And then something sitting off in the corner of his room caught his attention. With the sun starting to shine through his window, the light hit an object and reflected onto Zendric's face. The old wizard walked over to see what it was and picked up a leather-bound journal with a silver lock to keep it shut.  
"Ah," Zendric spoke out loud to himself. "There you are." He was about to toss it aside and away from the sun when he soon realized who the journal belonged to. The old journal was practically falling apart as the aged leather had a few wears and tears and could no longer keep up with being mishandled.  
He sat down in a chair smaller than the one he had on the lower level, but that did not mean it was any less comfy. Zendric muffled a tiny spell under his breath and the lock to the journal clicked open and fell on to his lap. When he opened the journal, he was met with memories of the past. The handwriting was small and delicate—not Zendric's scribbling penmanship.  
A moment passed before Zendric could force himself to flip through the pages. He stopped at one particular page with a drawing of two young friends. Zendric recognized them right away for it was himself and Lexos in their younger days, both with dark hair and fair skin. They looked to be sixteen, but in truth, they were older than that, for elves aged differently than humans and most other beings too. For a moment, Zendric almost missed the days where he and Lexos got along—almost. But it was his other friend whom he missed the most, the one whose journal he was holding, the one who drew the picture: Aoife. (ee fah)  
Zendric leaned his head back and closed his eyes, remembering the days when Curston was once known as Promise.

* * *

Young Zendric and Lexos ran at top speed as they competed against each other. They were matched until a cart came rolling out of an alley with a donkey pulling it. Zendric tried to stop, but he was running so fast that he could not stop himself in time and collided with the cart and fell backward.  
"HAH!" Lexos looked back at his friend to laugh and then coughed as he was too out of breath. He was also not paying attention to who was in front of him, and he smacked into the back of an orc. He hit the ground hard and gasped for air. "Gods," Lexos didn't know what was harder: the stone-paved ground or the orc's rump.  
Zendric was quick to pick himself up and hobble over to his friend but not before apologizing to the man whose cart he ran into. "Serves you right," Zendric said as he hovered over Lexos. "Be gentle with him." Zendric looked to the orc and then patted his shoulder.  
The orc growled. "Stupid elves,"  
Zendric flinched and took off running.  
The orc peered down at Lexos and watched him scramble to his feet. "Puny elf,"  
Lexos laughed nervously. "You should learn to broaden your vocabulary." The orc snarled at him, and Lexos nearly fell over again as he stumbled back into someone. To avoid any more conflict, the young elf looked up at the sky and said, "Oh my Gods, it's a dragon!" The orc and a few bystanders gasped as they looked up in fear. Lexos made this his way of escape and ran as fast as he could to catch up with Zendric. "Not so fast, Zendric!" Lexos cast an ice spell and a thin trail shot quickly up behind his friend.  
Zendric slid a few paces and tried his best not to slip, but his efforts were in vain as he nearly did the splits and cried out in pain. He fell on his side and slid on the ice until someone stopped him with their foot. Zendric was cradled into a ball of pain as he looked up to see who it was but was blindly by the sun.  
"At it again, I see." A young half-elf female bent over, blocking the view of the sun and sparing Zendric the pain of its rays. Her pointed ears were the only things to resemble her elf side, other than that her human features took over. Her skin was a shade darker than the boys, but her hair was a golden blonde and kept short. She wore nothing to keep the waves in her hair at bay and let her short locks flow in the wind.  
"Aoife," Zendric tried not to moan as he sat up. "Have you been waiting long?" he asked.  
"Long enough," she answered and held her hand out to him. "You two are up to no good…again." Her chocolate brown eyes flashed at Zendric and then at Lexos who finally made an appearance. Aoife looked a little older than the boys, but to the trained eye, it was obvious that she was younger than them. She was only half-elf so she aged differently.  
Zendric spun around fast and said to Lexos, "You cheated."  
Lexos shrugged with a smug grin on his face. "We never set any rules down beforehand."  
Zendric dusted off his robes and ignored his friend's remark. "Did you bring the items?" he turned and asked Aoife.  
Aoife smiled and nodded as she brought forth a medium-sized brown leather bag and tossed it over to him. "Everything's there; down to the last stone."  
Zendric and Lexos bumped heads as they tried looking into the bag at the same time. Inside were potions, herbs, rune stones and a few pins for picking locks.  
"These rune stones are incredible! How did you manage to snatch these, Aoife?" Lexos couldn't peel his eyes away.  
"Shh!" Aoife hushed him. "Do you want all of Promise to know that I stole from my father?" Aoife's father was an elf who ran a magic shop. The man was always serious and didn't much like that she hung out with Zendric and Lexos all the time. He didn't think it was proper for a young lady to be running around with two boys and causing mischief.  
Zendric jabbed Lexos on the side and closed the bag. "Here," he handed Aoife back her bag. "Should we get going?"  
Aoife padded her side. "Yes, we should! I brought this with me, too." On her side attached to her belt was a rolled-up twenty-foot rope. It looked out of place with her white and blue cleric robes but she didn't care. Also on her side was a two-foot metal rod with a pale blue sphere sitting on top. It was hooked to her belt and swayed from side to side every time she spun around. "Last time I forgot, and we couldn't get down that hole."  
"That's only because Zendric tired himself out by casting too many fireballs at goblins and couldn't cast a levitation spell." Lexos teased.  
"AND," Zendric butted in. "Because of my fireballs, we are alive today. You're welcome! Besides, you couldn't cast a levitation spell either."  
"I was too busy protecting Aoife. Thank you very much." Lexos said.  
Aoife laughed. "Come on, you two. Let's go before we lose anymore sun!" She spun around quickly, and the boys hurried along.

The walk to the ruins was hardly a quiet one. Zendric and Lexos spoke the whole way.  
Aoife, on the other hand, often led the way. She had a keen nose for sniffing out any traps and sharp eyes to catch anything that may seem out of place. However, the bickering that continued between her two friends left her feeling irritated. She spun around on her heels, and the boys nearly walked into her. "Will you two stop it?"  
"He started it." Lexos began.  
"Liar," Zendric pointed a finger.  
Aoife huffed. "I'll finish it!" She grabbed the rod from her side and raised it; the boys hushed.  
The trio stood still and silent for a few seconds before bursting out in fits of laughter.  
"Hey, what was that?" Lexos suddenly pointed passed Aoife, and they all turned to see what it was.  
A goblin with orange skin popped out of a bush and scampered away.  
Zendric raised a brow. "That's odd. What's a goblin doing this far away from the ruins?"  
"Let's follow it!" Aoife moved her feet and went after the goblin.  
The boys stole glances at each other before hurrying after Aoife.

"There must be an abandoned wagon nearby." Lexos thought out loud.  
"Or maybe something bigger took their home from them?" Zendric pitched another idea.  
"Shh," Aoife slowed her pace and crouched down behind a tree. The tall grass also helped keep her well-hidden; the boys followed suit. She whispered, "I don't think it's either of those things. Look," she pointed.  
The goblins looked to be arguing with a group of bullywug's, marsh-dwelling creatures.  
"What are bullywugs doing all the way out here?" Zendric whispered.  
The trio continued to spy on the two groups of creatures for the next five minutes. Neither of them spoke the other's language, however, the common tongue was shared between them.  
"It's going to eat us all!" A goblin wailed and threw his arms in the air and fell to his knees. His comment sent of wave fear through both groups and sent all of them in a frenzy. It was even harder to understand them, but from what Zendric, Lexos, and Aoife gathered, a monstrous fiend had been running around wreaking havoc among them.  
"By the Gods, there it is now!" A bullywug shrieked and pointed in the trio's direction, but it was not them the creature was jabbing his finger at.  
The three kids turned around slowly, feeling hot breath come down their necks. For a second, all three froze in fear as a chimera growled at them. Its breath was rank.  
"Run!" Lexos shouted, and all three of them dodged out of there before the chimera's giant paw could scratch them.  
Aoife and Zendric jumped to one side and Lexos on the other.  
The goblins and bullywugs were quick to take out their weapons and prepare for a fight to the death.  
"What's a chimera doing here? I didn't think they ventured this close to civilization." Zendric said that more to himself than anyone else.  
"I don't know," said Aoife. "Why not ask it?"  
Zendric chuckled nervously. "You would enjoy seeing that, wouldn't you?" He glanced over at his female companion and grinned.  
Aoife shrugged. "Yes, well, I'd prefer to see you do something else." She smirked.  
Lexos, on the other hand, was busy dodging fireballs from his deadly enemy. "Can you two stop flirting and help me out here?" Lexos held up a hand and shouted a spell at the chimera, blocking its next attack. The bluish-Grey shield cracked as the chimera continued hitting it.  
The goblins and bullywugs threw spears and fired arrows at the fiend, but their dinky weapons did little good against the hybrid.  
"I'll distract it!" Aoife raised her rod and the piercing sound echoed throughout the surrounding area. The chimera shook its head, trying to rid the ringing from its ears. "Do it now!" She called out to Zendric.  
Zendric rolled up his sleeves and gracefully moved his arms in a circular motion. He quickly whispered an incantation and a bolt of lightning shot from his palms and at the chimera. It stunned the monster for a few seconds, but it soon started up its attack for dominance over the area.  
As the fight went on, some of the bullywugs and goblins started to flee the scene. They saw this as a losing battle and started making a run for it. Although their attacks had little impact, the chimera had less to deal with, making the trio fight harder for their lives.  
"So much for going to the ruins and trying out those rune stones!" Lexos was irritated. "You've ruined my day!" He shouted at the chimera, bringing its attention to him.  
"Careful, Lexos!" Aoife yelled.  
Lexos was too wrapped in his thoughts that his ego started to get the best of him. Whenever Lexos got this way he was at his most vulnerable; thinking that he could take on the chimera by himself was achievable, he forgot the true advantage of teamwork.  
Zendric saw the danger his friend was getting himself into and thought quickly. He could easily cast another spell at the chimera, but that would drain his energy, so he had to think of something else. He pulled out his dagger and ran at the beast, but he would never make it in time. The blade glowed blue, then orange and then red before flames erupted from it.  
Aoife saw what he was about to do. She had two choices: attack the chimera, or protect Lexos from being side-swiped. She chose to save her friend. "Saint Cuthbert, grant me divine strength!" A bright light beamed from the sphere on her rod and shot at Lexos.  
Lexos, of course, had other plans. A black, swirling mist grew out of his palms and latched around the chimera's neck, but before he could go any further with his attack, Aoife's spell locked into a magic ball to keep him from getting hurt. The moment the magical ball formed around Lexos, his spell was cut off, and the black mist evaporated. The expression on his face showed that he was none too happy with his half-elf partner. Nonetheless, it kept him being eaten alive as the chimera wasted no time to start gnawing on the magical ball.  
With the chimera now distracted, Zendric had more than enough time to make his move. He stabbed his dagger into the chimera's right ankle and twisted the blade. Blood spurted from the wound, staining the young wizard's clean robes.  
The chimera roared in pain and turned its hate on Zendric. Zendric had no choice but to leave his dagger in the chimera's ankle and step back. He barely escaped the giant claws that came his way. The front of his robes was torn and his chest scratched. He lost his footing and fell on his back. Consequently, that's what saved his life.  
While Lexos and Zendric were both dazed from the hands of sudden death, Aoife took it upon herself to finish the job. With one last desperate attempt, the young female half-elf put the sphere close to her lips, closed her eyes, and whispered.  
As the chimera jumped and spun in circles, attacking wildly, the flames on Zendric's dagger grew and started to consume the beast's body. All the while, Aoife worked her magic spell. If one looked close enough, they would almost see an invisible force shaking and vibrating the air itself. It shot out from Aoife's sphere and at the chimera, swarming it like a deadly disease.  
"I'll crush you!" Aoife shouted, swinging her staff to the side to finish her magic blow.  
The chimera's body started to shrink, its bones breaking and limbs folding. It yelped like a helpless babe as it undoubtedly saw its life coming to an end. Finally, the neck of the lion cracked, and soon to follow was the goat. The snake, however, had long since shriveled up and ceased to nothing but dry skin on the ground.  
"That's enough, Aoife!" Lexos shouted. The chimera was dead but the young maiden was intent on flattening the fiend altogether. "Aoife!" Lexos shouted one last time.  
Aoife was far too focused, and lexos' words couldn't reach her. Soon, blood trickled down from one of her nostrils and dripped from her lips.  
"That's enough," Zendric placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, bringing her back to her senses. "Are you alright?"  
Aoife collapsed and fell to her knees. "I'm sorry. I blacked out."  
Lexos maneuvered his way around the crumpled chimera's body and knelt beside Aoife. "That spell is too powerful. Why did you use it?"  
Aoife pulled a handkerchief from her bag and dabbed at her nose. "I was thinking I might lose my best friends today, and I didn't want that to happen."  
Lexos patted her on the back. "But you didn't lose us, did you?"  
Aoife looked up to see him smiling. She smiled back.  
"Look," Zendric brought forth his friends' attention. "The goblins and bullywugs are gone. We should scout the area and see if they left anything of value behind." He walked over to the chimera and freed his dagger from its ankle.  
Lexos snorted and stood to face Zendric. "Are you kidding me? Look at Aoife. We should go back to Promise."  
"No!" Aoife was quick to protest and stood up fast. "I'm fine," she stuffed her handkerchief back into her bag. "Zendric is right, let's scout the area. But before we do that," she turned to Zendric and placed the sphere on his chest. The circular device glowed a soft blue and the scratches on Zendric's chest healed. "There, all better."

There were many things the little mutants left behind, but most of it was no good. Just junk.  
Lexos groaned. "We can't even take anything back to sell."  
"Hey, I found some silver!" Zendric picked up a jingling bag and emptied it into his hand.  
Lexos swiped a piece and bit the edge of it. It broke. "Fake silver. Of course, a goblin would be caring it around." He tossed the fake silver behind his back.  
Zendric grumbled and dropped the remaining pieces in his hand.  
Aoife stopped suddenly. "Do you hear that?"  
The boys stopped what they were doing in mid-motion.  
"Uh...no," Lexos said.  
"It sounds like crying." Aoife looked to a small cave up ahead.  
"I can hear it too!" Zendric chimed in.  
Lexos strained his ears to hear. "Oh...now I hear it."  
"Let's check it out." Aoife was quick to leave the boys in the dust again.  
Lexos hurried after her. "Wait, Aoife! You should be more cautious!" He was worried about her after performing such an advanced spell. It was a spell she had been practicing for the last couple of months and was still learning how to do it properly.  
Zendric would have pitched in as well, but he knew Aoife would not have listened to either of them. She was as tough as they came. The only thing he could do was stay by her side. "She'll be fine, Lexos. You sound like a mother. Do you want to be a mother to Aoife?" He grinned.  
Lexos flushed a light shade of pink. "No!" He pushed Zendric. "Unlike you, I care about her well-being."  
Zendric crossed his arms and raised a brow. "At least she doesn't treat me like a sibling."  
Lexos narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
Zendric didn't have time to respond before Aoife called out to the boys to hurry up. They dropped their friendly feud and ran after their friend.

The cave wasn't very big, at least not as big as the trio imagined it would be. The cry, however, continued. It sounded more like a yelp from some tiny being, but a cry nonetheless. As they ventured further into the cave, Zendric pulled out his dagger and used it as a torch with a simple spell to guide their path.  
The crying became louder until it stopped altogether.  
"What's that? In the corner," said Lexos. "I think it's some kind of animal." He took Zendric's dagger and walked over to the animal. Standing before them cowered a baby chimera. It had been crying for its mother but stopped as soon as it sensed—or heard the trio coming.  
Zendric took his dagger back, slightly irritated.  
Aoife dropped to her knees and peered at the small creature. "Oh no..."  
"What is it?" asked Lexos.  
"I think we killed its mama." She inched closer to the frightened baby chimera. "It's okay, baby."  
"Don't coddle the damn thing!" Lexos said, his voice echoing off the cave walls.  
Aoife jerked her hand away. "I feel bad now."  
"Why?" started Lexos. "Its mother was going to eat us. We just happened to not be on the menu today. Such is life."  
Aoife raised her hand. "Zendric, give me your satchel."  
Zendric didn't argue. He handed her the satchel within a matter of seconds. "Here," he said.  
Aoife rummaged through the bag and pulled out some dried jerky and fed it to the baby chimera. It took a few tries, but the young cub cozied up to her eventually, resting its lion head on her lap. "It's kind of cute when it's not trying to eat you."  
Lexos threw his hands into the air. "Oh great."  
Zendric knelt beside Aoife and reached his free hand to the cub, petting the head of the goat. He glanced over at Aoife and smiled. "What should we do with it? I mean, the mother chimera was running from something. It was dangerous enough to flee and take its cub."  
"Who cares." Said Lexos. "We should kill it."  
Aoife gasped. "No way!"  
Lexos laughed out of frustration. "Are you kidding me? Do you want to keep that thing alive? Do you know how quickly chimeras grow up? That thing will be an adult in a year, I guarantee it."  
For once, Zendric agreed with his rival friend. "Lexos has a point. If we let it live and it survives on its own, it could come back to kill us later—or someone else. Do you want that on your conscience?"  
Aoife shook her head. "No..." She stood up reluctantly. "Let's leave it be for tonight. If it survives the night that will prove it has the strength to live on its own, and then we kill it."  
"That's too risky?" Lexos told her.  
Aoife waved a dismissive hand. "I don't care." She said quickly. "This cub is the least of our worries. The fact that a chimera was around here proves that something bigger or far more dangerous had made a move on the land west from here. Don't you think we should be more concerned about that?"  
"Well," said Zendric. "We don't have the time, nor the equipment to go that far west."  
Aoife sighed. "We're adults. We should be able to do anything we want and go anywhere we want."  
"Yes, I agree." Said Lexos. "But let's not discuss that here. This damp cave is making my skin crawl."  
As the trio made their way out of the cave, the cries of the baby chimera echoed, leaving guilt in the pit of Aoife's stomach.

**If you like the story so far and are interested in reading more, please please please leave a review, otherwise I'll just end up trashing the story.**


End file.
